A Simple Kiss
by Arisadonna
Summary: Ichigo wants to get a raise and goes up to Ryou's room to beg for it. But what happens when she starts to grow a strange feeling around him? A One Chappy Story! RyouxIchigo.


"A Kiss"  
  
A TMM Ryou & Ichigo Story  
  
Nya! Hello everyone! This is my second TMM story! It's short and will probably only be one chapter. But if I feel like it, I might make a second part to it. But for now, this is all there is to it! I hope you enjoy it! It's another Ryou & Ichigo story cause they are the best couple in TMM! XD  
  
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Ichigo ran up the stairs, hoping she would get to convince Ryou about giving her a raise. She needed the money pretty badly and besides, she worked hard enough already to deserve it. She finally reached the top of the stairs and stood silently for a few moments, in front of his door. She sighed, hesitating to knock. She really didn't want to listen to Ryou yell at her again. Usually, whenever she went up to speak to him, he would just ignore her and kick her out. But this time, she really needed to him to listen. She began knocking louder than before, finally building her courage to speak to him.  
  
"Come in!" He shouted, from inside. Ichigo sighed, rolling her eyes. 'What? Is he too lazy to open the door himself?' She thought to herself, as she pushed the door open.  
  
"Ryou, I really need to talk to you about--" Ichigo went to a complete stop as she began blushing a deep red. She saw Ryou standing in front of her wearing nothing, but a pair of old jeans. She turned away quickly, seeing him shirtless. "Maybe I should...." She said, wanting to walk out.  
  
Ryou just chuckled, not even bothering to put a shirt on. "Come on, Ichigo...You act like you've never seen me like this before. You've walked in on me many times before. You really need to get over yourself," He responded, as he began to pick up the piles of clothes that lay on his bed.  
  
She stopped blushing, but only slightly. Though he was right about her seeing him without a shirt many times before, she still didn't exactly feel comfortable about it just yet. "Um...I really need to talk to you. And I really need you to listen to me...." She said, slowly and nervously. She scratched her neck, trying to focus on looking at something else besides Ryou.  
  
He sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed, as he stared at her. "If it's about getting a raise, you really need to just give up. How many times have you asked me that already?" He asked, annoyed.  
  
"Ah, come on, Ryou! You know how much I deserve it! The other girls don't work at all while I do everything around the cafe!" She went down on her knees in front of him. She took his hands, grabbing them tight. " Please, Ryou! I'm begging you!"  
  
Ryou was shocked to see what she had done. "Ichigo...What are you doing? You don't need the raise that badly..." He calmly said, closing his eyes.  
  
"Yes I do!" Ichigo shouted, holding his hands tighter. "Ryou, I need to get this raise. It's not just about the money. I just want to see that all my hard work has actually meant something! Everyone else gets the same salary as I do, yet they do nothing compared to me...." She looked down, sadly. She was really serious about wanting her hard work to mean something. Every day, she tried her best to get things to go smoothly at the cafe, while everyone else did their own thing. But she wanted something to happen that would show her that everything she's doing isn't useless.  
  
For some reason, when he noticed the sadness in her face, Ryou couldn't help but feel guilty. He realized how much he was tough on her and that she deserved better than that. He put his hand on her chin, and lifted her face so that she looked straight at him. "Ichigo.....I'm so sorry....." He whispered, unsure of what else to say.  
  
Ichigo suddenly forgot what she was sad about when she looked at him. She stared at his face, seeing how wonderful he seemed at that moment. She felt as if she was staring up at the wide beautiful sky when she looked into his eyes. She lifted her hand to brush away the locks of hair from the front of his face. She didn't know what had come over her all of a sudden, but she moved herself up to where he was and softly kissed his lips. She pulled back only a little to see his expression. All he did was pull her up, next to him on the bed and kissed her back.   
  
At that moment, Ichigo didn't seem to care about her raise or the fact that she couldn't even stand Ryou. She put her hands on his face, deepening the kiss. He put his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.  
  
Ryou couldn't understand his feelings at that moment. He felt like he was exactly where he wanted to be. And who he wanted to be with. Though Ryou's feelings for Ichigo are never understood, you could see at the moment, that she was all that mattered.  
  
It was almost everlasting as none of them wanted to let go. They held each other for a long time, not caring the time was or how late it had gotten. But then there was a knock on the door, which ended their long-lasting moment. They turned to the door, in thought about who it was. "Who is it?" Ryou asked, not letting her go.  
  
"It's Keiichiro. I was just wondering...Ichigo went in there about a little more than half an hour ago. It's getting pretty late so I wasn't sure if she was still there cause I didn't see her leave." Keiichiro said, from outside the room.  
  
Ichigo looked at Ryou, unsure of what to do. He looked back at her and sighed. "She's not here. She already left." He replied, not taking his eyes off of her.  
  
"Okay, then. Just wondering...." Keiichiro said, faintly as he walked away from the room again.  
  
Ichigo turned to Ryou, blushing. She quickly turned away, embarassed about what they had just done. "Um....so now what?" She asked, trying not to look at him. Not only was it because of the kiss, but he was still shirtless.   
  
"I don't know...." He whispered, nervously. "Maybe we should talk about what just happened. I mean, we're going to have to discuss it sooner or later anyway, right?"  
  
"Right!" She answered quickly, turning to look at him. She then fell silent again, not wanting to be the one to start the discussion.  
  
"So.....did it mean anything?" Ryou asked, as he took her hand and held it tight.  
  
She blushed again, looking for the right answer. "I.....think so...." She whispered, as she gave a small smile. "Maybe we should try to take this forward. Maybe this meant that we should be....together?"  
  
Ryou looked away, as he began to think about what she said. "But...what about Masaya?" He asked, knowing she would rather be with that guy than him. After all, she had no reason to be with him anyway.  
  
Ichigo sighed. She had forgotten about Masaya. But maybe she wasn't surprised to be with Masaya. Maybe this was a sign to forgot about him and be with Ryou. If it wasn't, then why did she have all these wonderful feelings while she was kissing him? "Forget about him. I don't think......I should be with him anymore."  
  
His eyes went wide from shock. "Are you sure? I mean, it might not be a good idea to leave a guy like him just for me. I don't think I'm worth it...."  
  
She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "No, I think you are...." She replied, kissing him again.  
  
He kissed her back, smiling. He was happy that he finally was with the girl he had dreamed of being with for so long.  
  
Ichigo opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings. She found herself sitting at one of the tables in Cafe Mew Mew. She yawned, stretching her arms out. "Hmm....Was that all a dream? I didn't really kiss Ryou?" She asked herself, rubbing her eyes. She stood up, straightening her dress. "The cafe isn't open yet. I was actually early for once. That was probably why I went to sleep..." She said, walking into the kitchen.  
  
Ryou groaned, trying to block the sunlight from his eyes. He put a pillow over his head and more light came into the room. He groaned again, not wanting to wake up. But then he opened his eyes quickly, remembering his dream from the night before. "I....had a dream that I was kissing Ichigo...." He sighed, as he sat up and closed his eyes. "What in the world is wrong with me?" He stood up, grabbing some clothes from his chair. "You could tell that it was a dream. Ichigo would never want me like that."  
  
He changed his clothes and walked out of the room. He hesitated as he walked down the stairs. He was still really sleepy and just wanted to crawl back onto his bed again. He reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around the empty cafe. "Where is everyone?" He asked himself, sighing.  
  
At that moment, Ichigo walked back out of the kitchen, holding the usual tray she used to carry orders every day. She jumped in shock when she saw him standng there. "Ryou!"  
  
He turned to look in her direction. He blushed slightly, remembering his dream where they had kissed. He turned away so she wouldn't notice the red on his face. "Why are you so surprised to see me?"  
  
"Um...it's just that you were in my dream yesterday and with what just happened, I was just--" She cut off quickly, realizing what she was talking about. "Uh, nevermind what I was saying!"  
  
Ryou stood shocked. "A dream?" He took a time to think. 'Was it the same dream I had?' He thought as he sighed, deciding to ask. "Did this dream happen to have something really.....unexpecting...to happen between us?"  
  
Ichigo stared at him, confused. "How....how did you know?" She asked, as she became lost in thought. "Unless....did you have the dream too?"  
  
He sighed, nodding his head. "You kissed me...." He noted, with a smirk.  
  
She blushed, becoming embarassed. "I didn't mean to! It was just a feeling that came over me. Besides, you kissed me back!"  
  
"Of course I did. I'm a guy. What else a guy do when a girl kisses him?" He replied, calmly.  
  
"You could've pushed me away. After all, it was me, Ichigo, who kissed you." She answered quickly, not wanting to lose the arguement against him.  
  
"Why are we arguing about it anyway? It was just a dream. It's not like it really happened." Ryou stated, smiling at her.  
  
Ichigo couldn't help, but smile back. Ryou had a cute smile and it was a shame that he didn't do it often. "Yeah, you're right....it was just a dream. So, we have no reason to argue..."  
  
Ryou smiled even more as he stepped towards her, taking her hands into his. He moved his face forward, kissing her softly. She stood surprised, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she ended up kissing him back.  
  
After a moment, Ryou pulled back to see Ichigo's reaction. She still had a shocked look on her face which caused him to smile. "What was that for?" She asked him.  
  
"Well, I don't think any of us could live without arguing with each other. We had nothing to complain about, but now we do!" He told her, with a smirk. Though the reason wasn't the real truth. He didn't just kiss her to create an arguement. He kissed her because it was something he had wanted to do.  
  
Ichigo couldn't keep from turning red. She couldn't understand why she kept getting these sudden feelings around Ryou at the moment. "But....why did you....I mean...you could of....um....." She tried hard to find something to say, but nothing came to mind.  
  
Ryou began to laugh. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and smiled. "Don't worry, Ichigo. We don't have to discuss this kiss. We both know that it wasn't anything big. Now...if it was like the kiss we had in the dream, then there's something to talk about!"  
  
Ichigo smiled, looking at him. She moved forward and gave him a one-second kiss and quickly pulled back. She began to laugh, seeing him turn redder than she had before.  
  
"Um...Ichigo...now what was that for?" He asked, nervously.  
  
"Well, I was just thinking....." She began, giving an innocent smile. "Can I get a raise?"  
  
Ryou sweatdropped, glaring at her. "The things you do for money...." He sighed, crossing his arms.  
  
"Hey! It isn't just for the money! I deserve to get a raise! I've worked hard enough, haven't I!?" She shouted, pouting. She was speaking the truth. She worked ten times harder, than all the other girls put together.  
  
Ryou smiled, flicking her nose. "Alright, Ichigo. I'll give you a raise, but you better not complain about anything else anymore!"  
  
She jumped up, hugging him tight. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She exclaimed, pulling back. "Thank you so much, Ryou!" She was happy that she had gotten the raise she wanted. After all, that was what had made this whole things start in the first place.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just leave me alone about it, will you? I think I hear enough from you already!" He smirked as he began to walk away.  
  
She smiled, as she turned to walk away as well, but stopped. "Ryou! Wait!" She shouted, running up to him.  
  
He turned to her, annoyed. "What do you want now?"  
  
"Well, about the kiss...." She began. She wondered what the dream and the 'real' kisses had meant. Maybe they were trying to tell her something.  
  
"Ichigo, how about we just think of it as.....a one-time special moment between us? Since we never really have much of those anyway." He suggested with a smile.  
  
She smiled back at him, nodding her head. "Alright then. That's a deal!" She said, shaking his hand in agreement. "So this will never happen again?" She asked him in sudden curiousity. Hey, if it was bound to happen again, she might as well know ahead of time so she can be prepared for the worst.  
  
Ryou rubbed his chin, pretending to think about it. "Well, I can't promise you anything....." He said, giving her a wink. "But....I'll try to promise that our relationship won't go any further than this. Is that alright with you?"  
  
Ichigo noticed how he used the word 'try', which seemed to make her wonder. Then she found that she didn't mind that there could be a chance of something else happening between them. She looked at him again with a sweet smile. "Agreed. Now, I better get to work since the cafe should be opening now."  
  
"Yeah, you do that. After all, I am giving you a raise." He stated, glaring at her. "But anyways, get to work. Today's gonna be a busy day!" He turned around and opened the front doors. Then, not a minute later, he began walking back up the stairs.  
  
Ichigo smiled again, watching him leave. She didn't know why she had been so happy all of a sudden. After all, this had been a moment with Ryou. It was at that moment that Ichigo began to think that maybe she was beginning to grow feelings for Ryou. It seemed that these feelings were discovered by just a small kiss.  
  
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::starts crying:: Aww! It's over already! No fair! Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed it! ^ ^ The only thing I hate about this story is that since it's only one chappy, I can't make my usual "To Be Continued" speech. -_- Total Bummer. But I hope you all liked it! Please review! And remember, no flames! Gracias! ^ ^ v 


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